TicketsOct. 31, 2006
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UC vs. Northern Kentucky
Date: Wednesday, Nov. 1, 2006
Time: 7:00 p.m. EST
Site: Fifth Third Arena (13,176), Cincinnati, Ohio
Records:
Cincinnati : 21-13 in 2005-06
Northern Kentucky: 17-11 in 2005-06
TV: None.
Radio: Bearcats Nation All-Access will stream the game live, free, via GoBEARCATS.com (Tommy Gelehrter and Chuck Machock).
SETTING THE SCENE: The University of Cincinnati will open the preseason portion of its 2006-07 men's basketball schedule with an exhibition contest against Northern Kentucky University on Wednesday, Nov. 1. Tipoff at Fifth Third Arena will be 7 p.m. With a new head coach, eight new players and only one returning starter, the Bearcats will be a brand new team when compared to last year's squad that posted a 21-13 record. By contrast, the Norse have three returning starters and a cast of nine returning lettermen.
FIRST OF TWO EXHIBITIONS: Wednesday's contest is the first of two preseason exhibitions that the Bearcats will host. Cincinnati will face a touring team from the University of Ottawa on Saturday, Nov. 4 at 2 p.m.
ABOUT NKU: The Norse are one of the winningest teams in the NCAA Division II Tournament, twice reaching the tourney finals. The Norse were runners up in 1996 and 1997. NKU has been picked to win the Great Lakes Valley Conference East Division in the league's preseason poll. Northern Kentucky augmented its three returning starters with a trio of transfers from Division I schools. Among those transfers is Loveland, Ohio product James Cripe, who last season scored a career-high 14 points while helping Dayton upset UC.
PLAY IT AGAIN: Saturday's game will mark the sixth consecutive season in which Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky have met in a preseason exhibition contest. The Bearcats have won all five previous meetings by an average of 27.4 points. The teams previously played seven regular season contests between 1981-82 and 1988-89 with UC winning all seven matchups.
SIXTH YEAR FOR DIVISION II ACTION: Prior to 2001-02, preseason basketball games featured touring foreign teams and amateur club squads from the U.S. A new NCAA rule was implemented to permit a Division I team to schedule exhibition contests against Division II or Division III teams.
ABOUT THE BEARCATS:
The Bearcats boast only one returning starter, Cedric McGowan, and four lettermen from the 2005-06 team. One of those lettermen, Connor Barwin, is a sophomore tight end on the football team and will not be able to join the squad until the grid season has concluded.
McGowan averaged 7.2 rebounds last year to rank 11th in the BIG EAST, and 8.5 points.
To replenish the thin ranks, the coaching staff signed eight players for the coming season, seven of them products of the junior college ranks.
Junior college transfer John Williamson is no stranger to Cincinnati. The Columbus, Ohio native, who always dreamed of being a Bearcat, played at Cincinnati State the past two years. He averaged 27.4 points and 11.7 rebounds to help the Surge to a 26-9 record and reach the finals of the NJCAA Tournament.
Another junior college transfer who adds maturity to the young team is 6-2 guard Jamual Warren, who will turn 23 in December. Warren earned second team NJCAA Division I All-American honors last season at Globe Institute of Technology where he averaged 22.2 points and 5.9 assists.
The lone freshmen on the squad is Deonta Vaughn. The 6-1 Indianapolis native, who was a two-time all-state selection at Arlington High, averaged 17.4 points and 6.6 assists at Harmony Community School in Cincinnati last season.
NINE BEARCATS AVAILABLE: Only nine members of the 2006-07 Cincinnati team will be available for Wednesday's exhibiton opener. Junior college transfers Hernol Hall and Adam Hrycaniuk have not been declared eligible by the NCAA, which is evaluating their amateur status. Connor Barwin, a sophomore tight end on the UC football team, has not yet practiced with the team. Mike Williams, a transfer from Texas who has been practicing with UC, has to sit out the competitive part of the 2006-07 season due to NCAA rules.
EXPERIMENTAL RULES: Exhibition and exempted games feature experimental rules that the NCAA rules committee may later adopt after gathering sufficient data. This year's only experiemental rule moves the first defensive rebounder away from the basket one position, to behind the block, and limits those who can line up along the free throw lane to four defenders and two offensive players, in addition to the shooter.
UC IN THE BIG EAST: Cincinnati enters its second season as a member of the expanded BIG EAST Conference. In the preseason polls of the league's coaches the Bearcats were picked to finish 13th among the 16 teams. The Bearcats have compiled a record of 139-105 for a .570 winning percentage against the current BIG EAST membership. Last year UC finished eighth in the regular season race with an 8-8 ledger.
106th CAMPAIGN: The 2006-07 season will be Cincinnati's 106th year of basketball competition. The school has compiled a 1,520-868 record for a .637 percentage.
BEARCATS UNBEATABLE IN 5/3 ARENA: Cincinnati enters its 18th season in Fifth Third Arena at Shoemaker Center with a 235-34 record a .883 winning percentage. UC is 71-11 in Fifth Third over the last five seasons.
FIVE BEARCATS IN THE NBA: Five former Bearcats are currently on the rosters of NBA teams.
UC Yr. Season Team
Danny Fortson 1997 10 9th Seattle Sonics
DerMarr Johnson 2000 6 5th Denver Nuggets
Kenyon Martin 2000 1 6th Denver Nuggets
Jason Maxiell 2005 26 1st Detroit Pistons
Ruben Patterson 1998 31 8th Portland Trail Blazers
ELEVENTH-WINNINGEST PROGRAM: Cincinnati has been college basketball's 11th-winningest program since the turn of the century. Over the past seven years, the Bearcats have compiled a 173-58 record for an .749 percentage.
Cincinnati has won 25 or more games nine of the last 11 seasons.
The Bearcats won a conference regular season and/or tournament title in 12 of the past 15 seasons, and six times during this period have claimed both during the same season.
LOOKING AHEAD: The Bearcats will open the 2006-07 season hosting the Jim Thorpe Association Classic, an exempted round-robin tournament, on Nov. 10-12 at Fifth Third Arena. UC will play at 7 p.m. on each of the three days, facing Howard on Nov. 10, High Point on Nov. 11 and Tennessee-Martin on Nov. 12. The complete tournament schedule:
Friday, Nov. 10
7:00 UC vs. Howard
9:30 High Point vs. Tennessee-Martin
Saturday, Nov. 11
7:00 UC vs. High Point
9:00 Howard vs. Tennessee-Martin
Sunday, Nov. 12
4:30 Howard vs. High Point
7:00 UC vs. Tennessee Martin